Why should we care what happened to the hundreds of Nigerian school girls kidnapped more than three weeks? We live here, in the United States where in 2011, more than 329,797 babies were born to girls ages 15-19. We live here, in the United States where Black American teens, aged 13-17, especially females, are at a greater risk of attempting suicide than other youth in the country. We live here, in the United States, where one in every five teenage girl will become a victim of domestic/dating violence. We live here, in the United States where 43% of women have an eating disorder by the age of 16 and 95% of those with eating disorders are now between the ages of 12 and 25. Finally, we live here, in the United States where one in four girls never graduate from high school (four in ten if you are an African American female).
Why should we care? To quote the First Lady of the United States, "In these girls....we see our own daughters. We see their hopes, their dreams, and we can only imagine the anguish their parents are feeling right now." Three weeks ago, the terrorist group responsible for this atrocity and crime against humanity declared that they will continue their agenda to cease the education of the women in their culture. By kidnapping these girls, they sent a message that the value and worth of a female in their country is a THREAT.
I agree with the FLOTUS; what happened in Nigeria should make our own teenagers wake up and realize that they take public school education for granted. People for years have died for the right to have what our teenagers throw away so carelessly today.
No comments:
Post a Comment